How does real diamonds look like

On the other hand, rings made with 10K, 14K, or 18K gold or that are marked , , , , PT, or Plat, are probably holding real diamonds. This method might sound somewhat frightening, but keep in mind that diamonds are the hardest natural elements found. You can physically rub a diamond with sand paper and the stone will appear as if it was untouched. If you notice any damage to the stone, it is likely a fake.

However, I will be honest. Although I believe this is true, I have never personally tried this method. If you are super brave, let me know what happens, because there is no way I am sanding down my diamond, fake or not!

Well this one will only work if you have access to a cubic zirconia, a substance often used to replace real diamonds, of a similar size. Interestingly enough, a diamond weighs less than a cubic zirconia. If it weighs the same, it may very well be a fake. Unfortunately, just like in every other industry, there are scammers who are after easy money. As time goes by there are more and more imitations, but there are also more ways of detecting them before it is too late.

Go only to jewelers who you trust, or have qualified reviews proving they are who they claim to be. Aside for the tips mentioned above, it is also possible to purchase a loupe from a jewelry store or to borrow the one on site and to briefly study a diamond through this tool. A real diamond will generally have some imperfections while a fake one will appear completely perfect.

Familiarize yourself with what the common imperfections are that appear in diamonds and ask the jeweler any and all questions that you may have. By educating yourself prior to purchasing a diamond you will be protecting yourself from financial loss and emotional strain. In the long run, it is worth the effort. Sign up to receive exclusive updates and special offers. Congratulations on joining our email list!

You will be the first to know about exciting news, red carpet updates, special offers, and much more. Diamond Blog. Sometimes one of the only way to identify a genuine natural fancy color diamond is through knowledge and experience 1. Diamond Certificate of Authenticity First and foremost one should always request the proper certification for any potential diamond purchase.

A GIA diamond grading report 2. How to Tell if a Mounted Diamond is Real Some of the best diamond imitations have even succeeded in fooling diamond experts, so using your eyes alone to determine whether or not a diamond is real can be tricky, but it can be done. Can You See Through a Diamond? Hold the diamond in question under a normal lamp. Watch how light reflects off of the stone. Do you see bright shimmers of white light bouncing off the diamond? Do you see colorful light reflections as well?

A real diamond reflects white light extremely well, providing exceptional sparkle. Diamonds also reflect colored light, or fire, in magnificent fashion. If you compare a real diamond to a fake diamond like Cubic Zirconia, you are able to notice a drastic difference in the white and colored light sparkle that the real diamond gives off.

A professional gemologist who has a Graduate Gemologist GG degree will be able to tell you definitively if a diamond is real or not. Bringing your stone to a diamond professional will give you peace of mind, because several proven methods and tools are used to determine if a diamond is real.

A diamond professional will have access to a loupe—a special magnifying glass used for diamonds, gemstones and jewelry. When using a loupe, a professional will look for blemishes and imperfections within the diamond. While a fake diamond can be perfectly constructed, a diamond will have small imperfections called inclusions.

In addition to a loupe, gemologists usually have a thermal conductivity probe or meter. Because diamonds are effective heat conductors, the diamond will disperse heat rapidly after being warmed. If the gemstone disperses heat at a slower rate, the diamond is not real.

There are many diamond testers available out there, so you can choose whichever one you like the most. Check out an example from Amazon on the right. Jewelers and gemologists usually have a very fine tuned scale for measuring small differences in weight.

The weight of a real diamond will be lower than fake stones like the Cubic Zirconia—but only special scales for weighing Carats will be able to detect these minute differences. To perform the test, choose a fake diamond that is approximately equal in shape and size. Use this stone as a comparison for the diamond you are considering. Detecting a fake diamond can also be achieved through a electricity conductivity test performed by a jeweler or gemologist.

Diamonds conduct electricity better than other stones, including the difficult synthetic moissanite. An electricity tester will provide a clear sign as to whether or not the stone is real or created by a lab. A diamond will show conductivity while other stones like moissanite and cubic zirconia will not. These tools can determine almost immediately if a diamond is real or fake.

With a x magnification on a power microscope, a jeweler or gemologist is able to scrutinize the stone in detail. To have the internal, molecular qualities of a stone reviewed, send it to a professional diamond lab for testing. Their x-ray machines will be able to tell if the stone has a radiolucent molecular structure or a radiopaque molecular structure.

Diamonds are radiolucent while fakes like cubic zirconium and crystals have more radiopaque features. The test involved scraping the loose gemstone along a mirror to see if it would scratch the mirror or the stone.

While a diamond is formed with very strong materials, fakes like cubic zirconia and moissanite are quite durable and scratch-resistant as well. For these reasons, the scratch test is not accurate. You are better served to use other tests such as a thermal conductivity test or having the diamond inspected with a professional loupe tool. With the rising popularity in other gemstones, here are some steps to spotting a stone that to the naked eye may appear similar to a real diamond.

Synthetic diamonds have similar chemical and molecular components to real, natural diamonds. Because of their intricate internal qualities, we recommend having the diamond reviewed by an expert. They can run the conductivity test and look at the stone under high magnification. A cubic zirconia is one of the easier fake diamonds to test for authenticity. In addition, cubic zirconias reflect orange tinted light. Sapphires are commonly available in blue and a wide range of colors including white, which looks clear to the naked eye.

Perhaps the best actor in the fake diamond world is the synthetic moissanite. Distinction between the two is usually difficult for the naked eye and requires the expertise of a diamond professional.

Here are a few ways to do it: The newspaper method: Turn the stone upside down and place it on a piece of newspaper. If you can read print through the stone, or even see distorted black smudges, then it probably isn't a diamond. A diamond would bend the light so sharply that you wouldn't be able to see the print. There are a few exceptions: if its cut is disproportionate, the print can still be visible through a real diamond.

The dot test: Draw a small dot with a pen on a piece of white paper and place the stone over the center of the dot. Look directly down on it. If your stone is not a diamond, you will see a circular reflection in the stone. You won't be able to see the dot through a real diamond. Observe the reflections. A real diamond's reflections usually show up in various shades of gray.

Look straight down through the top of the diamond. If you see rainbow reflections, you're either dealing with a low-quality diamond or a fake. You may want to take along a piece of glass or quartz as reference. Don't confuse sparkle with reflection. Sparkle has to do with the brilliance or intensity of the light that's refracted by the cut of the gem.

Reflection has to do with the color of the light that's refracted. So look for intense light, not colored light. There is a stone that has even more luster than a diamond: moissanite. This gemstone is so similar to diamond that even jewelers have a hard time telling them apart.

To tell the difference without special equipment, hold the stone close to your eye. Shine a penlight through the stone. If you see rainbow colors, that's a sign of double refraction. This is a property of moissanite, but not of diamond. Drop the stone in a glass of water and see if it sinks to the bottom. Due to its high density, a real diamond will sink. A fake one will float at the top of the surface or in the middle of the glass. Heat up the stone and see if it shatters.

Heat up a suspect stone with a lighter for 30 seconds, then drop it straight into a glass of cold water. The rapid expansion and contraction will overwhelm the tensile strength of weaker materials like glass or quartz, causing the stone to shatter from the inside. Real diamond is strong enough that nothing will happen. Method 3. Ask for a heat probe test. The tight, evenly-packed crystalline structure of diamonds makes them disperse heat quickly; thus, real diamonds will not heat up easily.

Heat probe tests take about 30 seconds and are often done free of charge. It also doesn't hurt the stone the way some other ways of testing will.

Heat testing works for the same reasons that the DIY "shatter" test works. Instead of measuring whether the gem breaks under the pressure of rapid contraction, however, heat probes measure how long the diamond retains temperature.

If you want to have your diamond professionally tested, look online to find a reputable jeweler in your area. Many jewelers keep specialized devices that distinguish diamond from moissanite and can quickly indicate if a stone is a true diamond or a simulant. A traditional heat probe test will not be able to tell the difference between moissanite and a real diamond.

Ensure that the test is being conducted with an electrical conductivity tester and not a thermal tester. If you are testing a lot of diamonds at home, combination testers can be purchased online or at diamond specialty shops. Get a microscopic examination. Place the diamond under a microscope with the top facet dace down.

Gently rock the diamond back and forth with tweezers. If you see a slight orange flash along the facets, the diamond may actually be Cubic Zirconia.

It may also indicate that Cubic Zirconia was used to fill imperfections within the diamond. To get the best view of the diamond use a x power microscope. Subject the diamond to high sensitivity weighing. The only way to accurately perform this test is by having a known real diamond of roughly the same size and shape.

Without something to compare it against, you will have difficulty determining if the the weight is off. Inspect the diamond under ultraviolet UV light. Many but not all diamonds will exhibit blue fluorescence under an ultra violet or black light, so the presence of a medium to strong blue confirms that it is real. The absence of blue, however, does not mean a stone is necessarily fake; some diamonds do not fluoresce under UV light.

As noted above, some diamonds fluoresce under UV light and others do not. It's also possible for fake diamonds to be "doped" — treated so that they glow under UV light when they otherwise would not.

Get an x-ray examination. Diamonds have a radiolucent molecular structure, which means that they don't appear in x-ray images. Glass, cubic zirconium and crystals all have slightly radiopaque qualities that make them show up clearly on an x-ray.

If you want to get your diamond x-ray tested, you will either need to submit it to a professional diamond testing lab, or make a deal with your local x-ray imaging center. Method 4. Recognize synthetic diamonds. Lab-created or synthetic diamonds are "real" but they are not "natural". Synthetic diamonds cost a fraction of what a mined diamond costs, but they are usually chemically the same as "natural" diamonds. Telling the difference between a natural and a synthetic diamond requires a trained professional using highly sophisticated equipment which tends to rely on detecting the higher uniformity closer to perfect structure that gem-quality lab-created diamonds usually have as well as distinctive trace quantities and uniform distribution of specific non-carbon elements within the diamond crystal.

Man-made diamonds do not command the same re-sale value as mined diamonds due to successful PR campaigns by the mined diamond industry to suggest that mined diamonds are better than lab-made diamonds because they were mined instead of "made". If you care about re-sale and insurance values it is important to know if the gem is "natural" or "man-made". Recognize moissanite.

Diamond and moissanite are very easy to mistake for each other. It is difficult to tell the difference between them but moissanite sparkles a little more than diamond and also produces a double refraction, which can be difficult for most people to see. You can try shining a light through a stone, and if it gives off a much more colorful and large shine than a known diamond, then you'll know that moissanite is what you have.

If you only use a diamond tester, it will show "diamond" when you actually have moissanite. It is important to test any stone that tests "diamond" on a diamond tester or a moissanite tester. Recognize white topaz. White topaz is another stone that can look a little like a diamond to the untrained eye. However, white topaz is much softer than diamond. A mineral's hardness is determined by its ability to scratch and be scratched by other materials. A stone that can scratch others easily without being scratched itself is hard and vice versa for soft stones.

Real diamonds are some of the hardest minerals on the planet, so look for scratches around the facets of your stone. If your stone appears to be somewhat "scratched up", it's probably a white topaz or another soft substitute.